P.G. Cherian vs The Branch Manager, The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd.

T.R. Ramachandran Nair, J.—The son of the appellants, aged about 23 years met with a fatal accident on 17.06.2008. The accident occurred in Palarivattom-Aluva public road in the Premier Junction while he was travelling on his motorcycle bearing Reg. No. KL-4/E 8339. The offending vehicle is a lorry having Reg. No. KL-5/N 7869. The lorry ran over the body of the deceased and he succumbed to the injuries on the same day. A total amount of Rs. 22 lakhs was claimed as compensation.

The Tribunal found negligence as against the driver of the offending vehicle and awarded Rs. 13,06,800/- as compensation.

Arguments herein are restricted to 3 aspects. The first one is about the calculation of the salaried income which was not done in tune with the certificate produced and the evidence of the employer PW2; second aspect is with regard to the non reckoning of any amount towards future prospects and the third one is that proper compensation has not been granted for loss of love and affection, loss of estate and funeral expenses.

The first contention is regarding the salaried income. Going by the certificates produced before the Tribunal, he had completed B.Com. degree examination and was working as a Financial Planning Manager of Max Newyork Life Insurance Company, Palarivattom, Kochi. Ext. A13 is the degree certificate. Exts.A7 to A9 and A12 and A14 are the documents to prove salary income. The income received from his employer for the month of May, 2008 is Rs. 18,213/-. Ext. X1 is the appointment order of the deceased. The evidence of PW2 an officer of the Company will show that the deceased was employed in the Company and he was having a monthly salary of Rs. 15,096/- in April, 2008 and in March it was Rs. 17,731/-.

Ext. A8 series will show that in May, 2008 he had a monthly salary of Rs. 18,213/- which was also proved through PW2. He had also deposed before the trial court that conveyance allowance is a personal benefit and a special allowance is also there for personal medical expenses. There is lunch allowance as well as field allowance also. The Tribunal deducted these 2 items and the monthly salary was taken as Rs. 15,198/-. Thus the Tribunal effectively reduced around Rs. 3,000/- from the monthly salary drawn in May, 2008 of Rs. 18,213/-. Thereafter 50% was deducted for personal expenses by relying upon the judgment in Smt. Sarla Verma and Others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another, .

It is submitted by the learned counsel for the appellant that this method is not justifiable, but the learned counsel for the Insurance Company on the other hand supported the said method adopted by the Tribunal. We have bestowed our anxious consideration to the various aspects. As far as the appointment of the deceased is concerned, the employer is stated to be a multi national insurance company. The deceased was having a fairly good job at the age of 23. It is not a case where he was self employed. Therefore, there was no difficulty for taking his salary income itself. Of course, Ext. A8 series will show salary of Rs. 15,096/- in April, 2008 and in March, 2008 it was Rs. 17,731/- and Rs. 18,213/- in May, 2008. When the personal expenses are reduced by 50%, there is no reason to reduce Rs. 3,000/- further towards special allowances. Therefore, the actual income has to be taken as Rs. 18,213/-. Going by the judgments of the Apex Court, 50% can be added towards his future prospects. Therefore, the monthly salary can be taken as Rs. 27,000/- for the purpose of calculation of compensation and after deducting 50% for personal expenses it will be Rs. 13,500/-.

Instead of adopting the multiplier based on the age of the deceased, the Tribunal has adopted a lesser multiplier of 14 by reckoning the age of the parents, which is not the correct method. The multiplier will have to be taken as per the table provided in Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation (supra). Therefore, we adopt the multiplier as 18 instead of 14.

For loss of love and affection only Rs. 5,000/- and for funeral expenses only Rs. 10,000/- is granted. Rs. 5000/-awarded towards loss of estate is also totally inadequate.

The Tribunal has fixed the compensation in the following manner:

We refix the compensation as shown below:

(Rupees Thirty lakhs and sixty one thousand only)"

Thus, the appellant will be entitled to a total compensation of Rs. 30,61,000/- (Rupees Thirty lakhs sixty one thousand only), which will carry interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of petition. The Insurance Company is directed to deposit the entire amount of compensation within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment, less the amount already deposited before the Tribunal and on such deposit being made, the claimants can withdraw the amount.

The learned counsel for the Insurance Company submitted that the total amount claimed is only Rs. 22 lakhs. In the light of the decision of the apex court in Rajesh and Others Vs. Rajbir Singh and Others, while arriving at a just and fair compensation the court need not confine to the total amount claimed by the claimants, if the fixation of just and fair compensation exceeds such claim. Therefore we will be justified in awarding the total amount arrived as above but with the rider that the appellants will have to pay court fee for the total amount awarded by this Court.

The appeal is allowed. No costs.